Indicator



July Z1, 1925. 1,546,509

w. H. PooLE INDICATOR Filed April 10. 1922 jg- `l 1 JJ Z5 28 lil 11MHIllllln gfx/vanto@ l a convenient Patented July l, 1925.

i 1,546,509 UNITED gs'rivrrs's PATE-Nr OFFICE.

wrLLrAM HENRIrooLE, or PORTLAND, OREGON.

INDICATOR.

Application tiled April 10, 1922.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be itknown that I, WILLIAM H. POOLE, a citizen 'of the United States,residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon,have invented certain vnew and useful Improvements in Indicators, ofwhich the following is a. speci-cation.

`This invention relates to indicators, and the primary objectA of theinvention is to provide a novel mea-ns for determiningin and expeditiousmanner, whether or not guests of a hotel, apartment house or the like,are in their rooms.

In most hotels, the presence of guests in their rooms is generally'indicated by -the absence of ytheir keys from their mail boxes or theirdesignated hooks on a rack or board. Incase of telephone yinquiry for aguest, the exchange operator must either inquire of the clerk or examinethe mail box of the guest to see if the key is in place or send up tothe guests room. vIn case of verbal inquiry the clerk at the desk mustexamine the mail or key box or send up to the guests room.

A prime object of the invention is the provision of an indicator boardhaving electrical connection with the mail key boxes of a. hotel Vor thelike, each of the mailand key boxes having novel means for closing acircuit through the indicating board, when a key is withdrawn therefrom.

A further object of the invention is the provision of` an'indicatorboard embodying indicator means for each mailor key box, such as auelectric lamp, buzzer or theflike, the'board being sodi'sposed that thesamecan be readily seen by the clerk or telephone operatorV of thehotel, each of the mail or key boxes having circuit opening 4and closingmeans incorporated therewith and connected with its respectiveindicating means of the indicating board the circuit opening' andclosing means being adapted to be actuated uponthe withdrawal or placingof a key from or into its mail or 'key box, the indicator` board rhavinga masterswitch, so that the entire circuit through thc indicator boardcan be closed or opened when the clerk or telephone operator desires tosee if certain guests are in or outof their rooms.r

A further object of the invention is the provision of a means forincorporating each ofthe circuitclosers withyeach of the mail o'rfkeyboxes', Aeach of the circuit closers including a metal shelf for thekeyhaving a resilient tongue struck up therefrom, the

Serial No. y551,313.

tongue being normallyadapted to engage a contact terminal interposedinthe circuit of the indicating means for the mail andkey box on theindicator board, the spring tongue being adapted to be depressed outof4engagement with'the contactterminal when the key is placed on the keyshelf. f

A still further object of the invention is the provisionof a novelindicator of the above character, which is durable and efcient in use,one that-is simple Aand easy to manufacture, and one which vcan beplaced upon the market at a reasonable cost.

IVitli these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will beVhereinafter more specifically described, claimed and 'illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, forming a'` part of this specifi-I cation, inwhich drawings:

AFigure l is a fragment-ary section through the mail or key box of ahotel, showing the improved indicator connected therewith, the indicatorboard and circuit beingshown diagrammatically. v

Figure 2 isla fragmentary front elevation of the letter or key boxshowing the invention applied thereto.

igure 3 is a det-ail top plan view oone of the key shelves removed fromits letter or key box.

Figure 4 is a detail fragmentary r section through one of the mail'orkey boxes taken on the line 4f-4 of Figure l.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,the letter generally indicates the mail or key boxes of ya hotel orsimilar establishment, and B the improved indicator applied thereto.

As shown, the letter or key box A is di-y vided by transverse andvertical partitions 5 andf6 into a plurality of independent mail or keyboxes or pigeon holes 7.

Each of the independent mail or key boxes or pigeon holes 7 varenumbered consecutively inv the usual manner, as shown at 8. Thesenumbers conformto the numbers of the lrooms in the hotel. f f

The improved indicating device B vincludes an independent circuit closerC for each of the mail orkey boxes or pigeon holes 7 and an indicatorboard, upon which are disposed suitable indicating devices D. Theseindicating devices D have been llO v lampsand these' lamps Yconsecutively as at way, of example to. be electric can be'numbered 9,and these numbers conform of course, to the numbers on the mail or keyboxes or-pigeon^holes 7:* *The shown,

indicator board is connected by means. ,oil

l'atz'li'egii;l the circuit closingdevices C inrcludesessentially-@ keyfShelf 15which is preerably. --formd @of .electric conducting materialYsu'chassheet brass-.or the like, and this shelf ils substantiallyU-shaped in cross section, as .clearly ,shown -in-:Figureifof lthedrawingsgend; includes @body portion r16, the upstanding iiangesfgl,ajnlthe; attachf '@athenes-195@Whhficanehe 'secured tothe partition\ 11,Y by means'4 of Vfastening eleshelves 15 has struck up fromjthesamdfaaffresilient@contactl making ,and breaking tongue 21; Qwingftotheresilient inherency of the metal, the resilientJ tongues 21 is norinallyadapted to engage a: contact'yboltl22, whcheisealsorutlzed asV afbnding,post aS willV be hereinafter more fully described. The contact; bolt o'rbinding post 2 2-is-"se- 'cured in any3preferred'mganner textile-*partietion plate 11 The body portion 16 of'feach key shelf is alsogprovidedwithfafseco'lnd binding postV 23. r rThe f electrick f connecting nieansincludes apair of .line wires 25and'26f, which can lead4 *tof anysuitable source of electrical energyfsuch'. as abattery 27; As clearlyshown in the drawings,gthe ,line wire-25l is electricallyconnected `tothe indicating-devices VD by; Suitable branch wires 28. The

' otherYcontactsofV the devices have connected theretowires'i29gfwhichre'xtend to thel'bindingV postsv 22 of their respectiveboxes or pigeon holes 7. The linefwire 26 has electrically connectedthereto Ybranch wires 30 i which lead to the binding posts'23 oi' theVpigeon holes orA boxes 7 .v While I have shown the wiresBO connected bybinding posts'23, to the shelves 15,-it is to be understood that theAsame can .beconnected thereto inlany other way suchasby solderor thelike. .f -f l S .be..closed in"engagement with their binding posts 22.

lamp controlled by f Y 1,546,5o

Either one of the line wires 251er 26 may have'fa master switchinterposed therein, and as shown the wire 25 is provided with a switchSland whenthe switch is closed, the circuit throughthe-indicating lampsD may when the resilient tongues 21 are In operation ofthe improveddevice, when a key, which has been indicated inthe drawings by thereference character Fis'inserted on itskey shelf, the tongue 21, will bedepressed asl clearly shown Vin Figure l of the drawings; eldgthus morethe z tonguefout ,of engagement with its binding post 22, thus` breaking.theV circuit throughv an indicating thecircuit closing n' and opening`device incorporatedwith the ,linentioned--pigeon hole or mail 'or keybox 7 Whena keyfiswithdrawn, however, froinits shelhfthe tongu'e21 willspring upward into engagementwith the ybinding v post-22 `and thus closethe circuit through :its indicating lamp, `providing the switch-'31 isclosed. Now, whenritisV v guest is in hisroom, theclerk or telephone-operatorclosesthe switchV 31/ andif any of the keys of theguestslarenotin their mail or key boxes, thehindicating lamps yofsthementioned -mail or letterboxes will .be illuf minated, thus indicatingatV once which guests.'Vv aref in 'theirJ rooms,V and the VAlamps lwhichdo 'not light .indicating whichfguests' are out. U v @From the fo ofexceptionally i, simple.. and durable f con; Astruction, by means-ofwhich va person can be at once informedf whetherl cert-ain guestsdesired to see .if a ycertain are` in or .out of their` rooms, Withouti-nec'esf sitating telephoning y. to their rooms or examining-themailforkey-boxes,... Changesv in detilsmay be` made, withoutdepartingfiromVthefspirit or scope ofthis invention;butIclaimz.;` y l1.'In a circuit closer, a .support of nonconductinginaterial, aconductor engaging binding post carried'by said support, a shelf formingmetal plate positioned'beneath' said support and having its sideVportions prof vided.' with upwardly extending attaching iianges securedto saidsupport, a tongue be-y ing struck from said plate between theilanges and "ntermediate theV ends/0f the late and bent to extendupwardly' and normally engage. said binding post,V and Vmeans forconnecting a conductor with said plate, insertion of an article betweenthe plate and support with ing between to move the tongue out oflengagement with the-binding post. v v I 2. In a structure ofrvthe4vcharacter Vde*- scribed, la supporting strip of insulating ina-V terialhaving an'o-pening provided therein, a

a. portion of the article extendtheV support and tongue serving in theopening formed in said strip and having its lower end disposed forengagement by said tongue when the tongue is in its normal position,said tongue being adapted to be moved out of engagement with saidbinding post by an article inserted between the tongue and strip, and abinding post carried by said plate.

WILLIAM HENRI POOLE.

